The Knuckles Robo Army
by Joe97
Summary: Knuckles gets captured and forced to fight off a robotic army of himself. T for mild swearing and blood. Read and Review please.
1. Nack Attack

I finally am in the process of completing this story. I revised any errors I found in this chapter as well as fixed a few sentences. You can expect the same for the first four chapters.

Chapter 1: Nack Attack

The sun rises on another day. As soon as its rays touch Angel Island, Knuckles is there to greet them. He yawned as he turned to watch remaining darkness on the island vanish. This made Knuckles think. Ironically, since he was the islands protector, he had been chasing the 'shadows' away from the island just like the sun was. Suddenly, Knuckles felt a pain in his stomach and knew it must be hunger.

"I'd better get some breakfast" he thought "I can't guard the master emerald on an empty stomach."

He proceeded across the bridge that connects the island to the Mystic Ruins.

"Strange, I have a strong craving for fruit this morning. I'm usually never excited about eating the same bland food. Today just might not be an average day."

He grew even hungrier thinking about it and began to sprint across the plains towards the jungle. However, he wasn't the only one up early. A shrill, squeaky laugh could be heard from behind the master emerald. From its shadow stepped Nack, the purple weasel who never gave up trying to steal the precious green gem.

"This time Knuckles can't stop me! I have the ultimate mechanism for stealing the...where is it?"

He began to search his vest for something but to no avail.

"Oh no!" he cried "I left it back at the hideout! Oh well, I'll just have to take the emerald the old fashioned way."

He ran around behind the shrine and came out on his air bike. He parked it right next to the master emerald and grabbed a rope that hung off the side of his bike. The only problem now was tying the master emerald to his bike. He made a lasso and tossed it over the emerald, but it was too small. He tied one end to his bike and began to run around the emerald only to be jerked back by the lack of rope. Realizing Knuckles would soon return he tried to push the master emerald from its pedestal and onto his bike.

He pushed with his hands, he pushed with his feet, but that emerald simply wouldn't budge on his physical strength alone. Nack soon found himself on the ground; panting from his effort. Knuckles returned a moment later, still licking his lips from the fruit. He jumped in surprise to see Nack who had collapsed from exhaustion. He ran up the steps to confront the purple menace.

"What are you doing here?" he growled "Were you trying to steal my emerald?"

"No" replied Nack sarcastically "I wanted to clean the shrine for you. Of course I was trying to steal your emerald!"

"You'd better leave" Knuckles warned "Or I'll be forced to escort you off the island."

"Don't worry; I was just leaving this pathetic excuse of an island."

Knuckle's face turned red. No one insulted his island, no one. As soon as Nack sat down on his bike, Knuckles grabbed it and lifted it over his head.

"Let me help you there, buddy" he said menacingly.

With a mighty toss, he hurled Nack forward at light speed until he was nothing but a sparkle.

"Annoying little weasel" he grumbled.

He sat down near the master emerald and took a deep breath to calm himself. Suddenly, the island began to rumble. Knuckles leaped up and looked over to see what looked like a giant fortress engulf the entire island.

"What's going on?" he shouted through the dark.

Then, a sharp object hit him in the back of the head, causing him to hit the ground and pass out.

End of Chapter 1


	2. First Encounter with the Knuckles Robos

Patience is a virtue and it just paid off. Here's chapter 2.

Chapter 2: First Encounter with the Knuckles Robos

Knuckles awoke and shook his head. He felt a sharp piercing in his head and roved it with his hand to find a large whelp.

"My head" he groaned "It feels like I was hit with a ton of bricks."

His head began to throb making the pain worse, but Knuckles was stronger than that and rose to his feet. He looked around to gather his surroundings. He was in a large empty room that resembled a mine.

There were several passages leading away from this room and Knuckles decided it would be best to select one and see where it leads. He chose one to his left and began his journey. His footsteps echoed as he walked down the passageway.

Suddenly, many more footsteps were heard and Knuckles stopped short. The footsteps began to pick up speed so Knuckles returned to mouth of the passageway where he would be able to see the perpetrators. Several red echidnas emerged into the light. Knuckles was surprised, had he found friends or foes?

"Who are you?" he asked in hopes of them being friendly.

"We were sent by our leader" the front man replied.

"Leader?" Knuckles thought.

"He ordered us to confront and..." they're eyes turned red "destroy the obsolete one."

"Humph" Knuckles boasted "Then come try me!"

The echidnas charged at Knuckles each with a frenzy of punches, but Knuckles dodged them easily.

"This can't be right" he thought as he maneuvered about the fists "Dodging their attacks is too easy. Something must be up."

After ducking below a rapid kick, Knuckles retaliated with an uppercut, knocking off the head of one of the echidnas!

"No wonder they are so weak" Knuckles gasped "They're all robots! Well then, I won't have to go easy on them!"

He began to punch each of the robos, who didn't even bother to block any of the blows. Within several seconds, Knuckles had destroyed all five of the metallic vermin. He looked down at all their lifeless parts.

"Well, I guess there was nothing suspicious about that being easy after all. They must have been poorly built."

With that being said, he turned and continued his journey down the passageway. The pathway emerged on a catwalk, high above what appeared to be a laboratory. There were several computers around, but the real attraction was the giant, orange, spherical machine in the middle of the room. There were many more of the echidna robots running around it, performing tests or something.

Then, the clanking of feet could be heard in the passageway once more. Knuckles turned and looked back as the five robots from earlier returned and were in perfect shape.

"How, how can you all still be alive?" he asked in shock.

The robots answered by simply all tackling Knuckles at once and knocking themselves off the catwalk and into the lab in a large cloud of dust. All the robots down below turned and looked in wonder as the dust cloud dispersed.

Knuckles knocked all the robots off him and noticed they were all staring at him. He had been spotted. With no other choice, Knuckles began attacking every robot in sight. He tore through several robos with one punch, but every one that fell got right back up!

"How can they do this?" thought Knuckles "I used more strength on them than I needed to and they still revive themselves. Something must be..." Knuckles stopped short.

He felt that piercing feeling in his head again and fell to the floor. Everything became blurry, but he knew if he passed out, he might wake up dead. He struggled to his feet and raised his fists, but then the piercing became much worse, and Knuckles fell again with no hope of getting up.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Knuckles' Rage Reaches New Levels

Just a note, I switch back and forth from saying robot to robo. Knuckles uses 'hell' in this chapter.

Chapter 3: Knuckles' Rage Reaches New Levels

Knuckles regained slight consciousness a few hours later thus making him half-asleep. As he began to awaken, his mind was deep in thought.

"Those...those robots" he thought "Why do they look just like me? And how come those few managed to revive themselves? It doesn't make any sense. Wait...I remember...a...a cloak. Yeah, just before I passed out I remember seeing a cloaked figure pass over me. He said something to the robots and then everything goes blank. But, what did he say? And was this a good thing? I must know."

Knuckles began to feel the slight tickle as several bubbles floated upwards tickling his arm.

"Bubbles? Where the heck am I?"

He struggled to awaken himself, but for some strange reason, he was exhausted and could barely move. Then, to only add to Knuckles questions, he felt a slight jolt through his nerves.

"What was that, shock, I felt?"

He felt it again.

"There it is again. What is happening?"

Knuckles opened his left eye just enough to see everything he needed to know, and his right eye joined his left in wide amazement. For Knuckles was inside the orange spherical machine he had observed earlier! A thin, long wire stretched from the machine across the room to a robot. He placed the wire inside his head and then Knuckles felt the jolt again. The robot finished and handed the wire to another robot. Thus, they had all lined up to use this wire. Then the answer shot through Knuckle's mind like a cold bullet. They were using that wire to download Knuckle's very identity!

He knew in the very back of his mind what damage it could do. They will know all of his strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, memories, and maybe, maybe even be able to anticipate his very own moves! Fury began to rise up from deep within Knuckles.

"Those lowlifes..." he growled "I won't stand for this. It's one thing to take someone's image, but their very identity. The one thing that is sacred to everyone. They haven't finished yet, I can still defeat them."

Knuckles ripped the cords off that were attached to his body and used them to get a grip on the wire. He pulled with all his might; yanking one robo off his feet and knocking him into the machine. With his new found strength, he punched a massive hole through the side of the machine and smashed a hole in the robo's head as well. The other robos were astonished, for Knuckles seemed to glow a red brighter than his own skin! The robos were fearless nonetheless, for they have no emotions. They charged into battle, eagerly wanting to test Knuckle's massive new power.

Knuckles sent a punch their way and tore through nearly all of them at once. The remaining few retreated behind him for a surprise assault, but Knuckles saw this early on and with a mighty crash, he pounded the floor with his fist generating a massive shockwave that slammed all the remainders into the walls. The room settled and Knuckles caught his breath. He had never fought that intensely in his life. And yet, he felt like this battle wasn't over. He scanned the room, but found no one left. Knuckles then came down with a cool wave of anxiety. He felt like something was still there. And then, Knuckles found he was right.

The Robos seemed to piece themselves right back together and began to walk toward Knuckles for another round. Knuckles had returned to normal once more and was exhausted. There was no way he could fight. Knowing that fighting them would only waste more of his energy; Knuckles retreated from the lab through the nearest passageway and the robos followed. As Knuckles ran, he his mind raced as well.

"What are these things!" he struggled to understand "How in the hell can they keep coming back like this?"

Knuckles feet seem to flip from underneath him as he was pulled from the dark passageway against the wall.

Someone was next to him.

"Stay quiet!" the figure said.

The two nearly stopped breathing as the robos passed by.

"Thank..."

"No time! Go this way and you will know everything in due time!"

The figure pushed Knuckles into a secret passageway and ran off before Knuckles could say another word. The tired, red echidna decided to heed the stranger's advice and trudged down the hidden passageway.

End of Chapter 3


	4. Dark Reflections

Chapter 4: Dark Reflections

Knuckles jogged cautiously down the corridor to avoid any surprises. His mind could only wonder as he prowled the unfamiliar territory.

"Who was that? Did I make a wise decision or a foolish mistake? Whatever is at the end of this passageway will tell me the answer."

The light that showed the way grew bigger and brighter as Knuckles passed through it into another room. He was astonished at the sight. It was a lone computer room, as if built secretly from the robots. There were many monitors showing various information and Knuckles decided to check things out knowing that it might be his only chance to get some answers. He went over to a smaller computer that had a touch-screen monitor.

It showed an outline that looked similar to Angel Island and it was composed of four inner levels and a bizarre rectangular structure.

"This is odd" he thought aloud "Angel Island looks nothing like this. So what could this possibly mean? Hm?"

He noticed a button that said 'outer view' and so he pressed it.  
The screen revealed a metallic version of Angel Island that was much larger than the original. This only made Knuckles even angrier than before.

"Who, who is doing all this? It's as if they know exactly everything about me and are countering every possible thing associated with me."

Knuckles switched the view back to the previous screen.

"This must be a map of the inside. I'm apparently on the bottom floor. Whoever or whatever is in charge must be on the top floor. I best get going."

Knuckles turned and began walking through the room. There were many other computers, but none had anything of importance. Then Knuckles noticed something that nearly made him fly off the handle. In a large glass case was the master emerald and green electricity sparks were flying around it. A small monitor was attached to the base of the emerald's prison and Knuckles glanced it over to see what only made him release a yell of great force.

The screen read "Current regeneration and power supply levels."

The strange robot force was using its power to revive themselves! Several large wires stretched from the glass into the floor and spread out all over the room.

"They must be using this machine to send the energy throughout this base" Knuckles thought "That's how they can revive anywhere inside here, well not anymore!"

With a mighty blow, Knuckles punched the glass open and tore the master emerald free of the wretched machine. Using both hands, he used the 'absorb technique' to draw the master emerald into both his hands not only to keep it safe, but to harness its power in case he encounters some dangerous foes.

One doorway led out of the computer room but as Knuckles approached it, a robot blocked his path.

"Get out of the way!" threatened Knuckles.

The robot replied by charging at Knuckles with a punch. Knuckles then grabbed the robot by his wrist and flung him over his shoulder. But something was a miss.

Knuckles was twisted around by his fist and punched in face by the robo's free hand. Knuckles released his grip on the robo and took a few steps back.

"Something is not right here" he thought "The others were cake even though they came back. What makes this one so much stronger?"

The robot was prepared for battle and thirsting for blood as he viciously charged at Knuckles with an open hand.

"What kind of maneuver is this?" thought Knuckles as he leaped to the side.

He was ready with a punch as the robo turned around and was pounded in the face by Knuckles' rock hard fist. The robo flew back but seemed to bounce off the floor as he ricocheted his feet and made contact with a punch of his own. Knuckles began to grow aggravated with the robo and punched him away creating a short distance between them.

Knuckles curled up into a ball and held out both his fists. He bounced up in the air and began rotating both his fists creating a saw from his sharp knuckles. The robo was caught off guard and took the blow, getting chopped into various chunks. The large pieces flew back and hit the wall, lying motionless. Knuckles returned to normal and heaved a deep breath.

"That was a bit rough" he said wiping his forehead "That robo proved to be more formidable than any of the others. Now that he's out of the way I can keep moving."

Knuckles passed through the doorway but just as he did, he heard a laugh behind him. He turned back and reentered the room to see the pieces moving slightly.

"You fool" cried the robo "We can regenerate! You thought I was finished? Ha! In just a few moments, I will be reborn."

Knuckles snickered and revealed the master emerald.

"No" the robo's tone of voice became faint "You can't take that! It belongs to our army!"

"Army?" thought Knuckles "So they are an army?"

He snapped out of his thought as the robo began to yell.

"You may have beaten me, BUT WHAT IS IN STORE FOR YOU WILL CRUSH YOU TO NOTHING!"

Knuckles became angered at the robo's empty threats.

"You have no idea of the power of the master emerald. So I will give you a demonstration."

Knuckles tensed all his muscles and began to slightly grunt. His whole body began to generate its own aura of crystal green, glowing brightest at his hands. He let out a mighty roar as he focused the final bits of energy into his body. He began walking towards the robo who looked on in fear.

"This is only 15 percent of what I can do" Knuckles said in a serious tone "You should feel grateful I'm using this much."

The robo yelled for mercy but received none as Knuckles wiped him out in a punch which also took a part of the wall.

Once the robo was destroyed, Knuckles relaxed his body as he powered down to his normal state. He sighed.

"If I keep using the master emerald's power like that, it might not be around much longer. And I just might need it for what's in store for me."

Knuckles trudged off as he continued his fight to survive this strange army.

End of Chapter 4

As for the 'absorb technique' Knuckles simply absorbs it into his hands and it becomes a part of his body. I created this method for the Sonic characters to avoid the usual, "pulled it out from his imaginary space" or whatever. Besides it sounds better anyway. D


	5. Enforcer of the Shadows

It's been a long time. I'm sure many of my fans may be disgruntled for me not previously finishing this story. But I'm back and ready to conclude this story! Here we go, chapter 5.

Note: Blood in this chapter.

Chapter 5: Enforcer of the Shadows

Knuckles ran through the doorway just after destroying the annoying robo and headed left; the opposite direction from which the robo entered. He was having some severe regrets about using the master emerald's power.

"Why did I do that?" he worried "I am the master emerald's guardian. I'm supposed to prevent villains from using it that way and then I turn right around and use 15 percent of its energy. If I use it like that again I may end up with more problems than just this army."

He continued to beat himself up as he turned a corner and headed up a long slope. When he reached the top, he entered a new room and noticed the inner walls had changed color. They were no longer grey, yet black. The color seemed to help dim the room into a much darker area. Knuckles then heard a voice call out to him.

"Knuckles the echidna" it said "About time you showed up here."

"Who are you?" Knuckles shouted into the darkness.

"You don't remember me?" said the voice.

The figure noticed green on both of Knuckles' palms.

"I take it you found the master emerald."

Knuckles realized who this figure was now. From the familiar voice and knowledge of where Knuckles had just been the figure was obviously the stranger who had helped him escape the robos earlier. It was him; he was talking to Knuckles from behind the darkness.

"You" said Knuckles in disbelief "You helped me escape those robots. I am much obliged."

"You had best hold your thanks" said the figure "I've got a job to do first."

"And what might that be?"

"Killing the obsolete one: Knuckles the echidna."

Knuckles felt the stress of those words bare down on him. The very being who had saved his life, now wanted to end it.

"But why?" asked Knuckles, a bit upset "I don't understand."

"I was given orders. I was to help you escape the robos so we might have our fight. And we will fight, but you must know that all this is happening because of a crime you committed in the past."

"A crime" Knuckles thought aloud "And just what might that crime be?"

There was no reply. The room became entirely engulfed in darkness and Knuckles heard swift footsteps patter about the room.

"Look at it this way" called the moving voice "If you beat me, you can answer that long awaited question."

Knuckles strained his sense of hearing, but it was no avail. The figure moved so swift Knuckles could pick up no trace of his footsteps. He paced backward a few steps cautiously to try and strain his eyes for a better view of the area. He was able to make out the bottom of the surrounding wall but nothing more. Two of his senses had proved no good and Knuckles needed an ace to match the stranger's.

Knuckles shook his head and began to rub his arms.

"It has gotten strangely cool in this room" he thought.

A few moments later Knuckles gained the advantage he needed. Pacing forward he held his arms out until he felt the stone of the wall. He turned left and began to follow it along at a steady pace. He followed it for a ways then burst into his maximum speed.

As he ran along the dark walls he slowly merged his footwork with the siding and within a few seconds was running about the wall himself! He continued to force himself against gravity in an upward direction until he heard a panicked cry.

"What the…?"

Knuckles slid his left fist across smoothly and connected with the figure's cheek. The force at that bizarre angle thrust him upward into the ceiling and then he landed back on the ground. He crashed on his feet jarring his legs slightly. Knuckles decreased his speed and rejoined him on the floor.

As Knuckles looked across at where he landed, he noticed the darkness had cleared up a small shade. Straining his eyes he could make a faint outline of the room but not enough to aid him in this battle.

The figure charged across the room towards Knuckles but Knuckles was ready this time, he could feel it in the presence of the darkness. The figure swung a punch at Knuckles but missed. Knuckles dodged to the left and brought a right kick up to be caught by the figure. He flipped Knuckles over and slammed him face first into the stone. He continued by thrusting a downward punch that missed and broke the stone where Knuckles had been. He had rolled out of the way and once again tried a kick that sent the figure into the nearby stone wall. Knuckles rolled over a few more times and quickly climbed to his feet, the darkness faded another shade.

"I understand now, the dark shade eases off each time I damage him. That must mean he has some connection with it, I had better be careful."

The blackness had faded enough for Knuckles to see an outline of the figure and make a better one of the room. He was not human, definitely something more than the average robos of this army.

With a crumble of stone and a groan, the figure pulled himself off the wall and turned about to face Knuckles. He was giving off a much more serious presence. A deeper blackness surrounded his hands now as he charged towards Knuckles for another round of combat. His fists moved swifter as Knuckles dodged the same as before except he was grazed across his cheek.

The figure made a startlingly quick turn around and slammed his two fists together making a small boom. Blackness was all Knuckles could make out as he was stabbed in six areas and pounded back into the wall. He knocked his head against the stone as he collided causing the old wound to begin throbbing once more. Knuckles looked down and saw six black spike shaped bits of matter jabbed into his body, pinning him to the wall.

His head had its own heartbeat and caused him slight delirium. But he had no time for excuses for he saw the figure rushing toward him with an angry fist. Knuckles quickly reached down and pulled out two of the spikes, freeing his upper body. This was all he could do in the short time he was given. He swung his head to the side to try and avoid the fist but was belted across the cheek making his head scream with a painful throb.

Knuckles nearly forgot his hands were full.

He shoved the two spikes forward and jabbed the figure causing him to yelp and fall back. He quickly pulled out the other four spikes and plopped onto the floor, taking in deep breathes. The six wounds had created fair gashes into his body, but luckily were in no critical areas. As he panted he felt liquid run down the back of his ear and drop onto the back of his wrist.

He felt it, it was blood. He traced the bleeding back to his original wound. Pressing his back against the wall, he used it to help him rise to his feet. As he did so, Knuckles re-analyzed the situation.

"Seven wounds on me, two on him. He can use the power of this darkness to his advantage, so I had better take him down a few notches before he tries anything else!"

Knuckles made light punches to the six wounds on his body, hoping they would slow the bleeding. The figure had thrown the spikes upon the floor and attempted to tend his own wounds. From what Knuckles could see, he was bleeding black blood. So in a sense, he really was 'one' with this darkness.

Making an uneven jog, Knuckles continued towards the figure to attack those wounds at any cost. The figure swung first with a fist Knuckles easily ducked under. Knuckles shot a powerful uppercut that glided right across the left wound. Blood leaped from the wound and the figure made unbalanced steps backwards in a hasty retreat. Knuckles took advantage of the moment and took equal haste after him. The figure was looking up from having had his head shot up in that direction from the uppercut. He saw Knuckles with a cannibal look in his eye as he brought his fist in a mighty slam downward, pummeling the figure into the stone!

Releasing his grip and looking down on him for a moment, Knuckles needed to finish him but was low on his breathe. Something caught his eye and he glanced back across the room to see the two spikes the figure had thrown down earlier. He raced over in a frantic scurry against time for the figure could arise at any moment. He snatched one up and trudged back over the small pit with the figure.

Jumping down, Knuckles lifted him up by his throat and pressed the spike across it. It was hard for them to communicate between their panting and slight coughing.

"Listen to me as hard as you can" Knuckles threatened "I'm not one to mindlessly slaughter others, especially those who provide honorable battles."

He panted.

"But after everything I have been through so far, I'm willing to throw that moral away if I have to."

The figure only panted as the darkness cleared entirely. The stranger was revealed.

End of Chapter 5


	6. Closing In

Chapter 6 underway! Also, feel free to review. I noticed I have been getting a lot of views and decided to mention that I love to hear people's opinions. Yes, that means you who are reading this now!

And to the owner of a white sedan, you left your lights on…

Chapter 6: Closing In

The stranger was revealed! A black echidna was shown from beneath the darkness on the other side of Knuckles' clenched fist. He had most of his dreadlocks pushed up into a Mohawk but kept several down so he could retain his ability to glide. Two iron fist cuffs aligned his hands and sunglasses concealed his face.

"An echidna" Knuckles murmured.

He set him back on his feet but still kept his grasp tight.

"I want some answers from you and if you don't try anything funny I'll let you live."

"Fair enough."

"First things first. I want to know who you are and why an echidna like me is helping this wretched army."

The echidna put on a serious demeanor.

"My name is Buckles; I act as the enforcer of this army since I can slink about the shadows so easily. I go to the leader for short briefings and then carry them out. I'm a complete pawn."

"But why?"

"I honestly owe everything to our leader. I've been a loner my entire life, I never had anyone to be there for me and to add new meaning to the day. Then one day out of the blue he shows up and knows everything about my loneliness. He offered me a new purpose for living in return for my services. Everything after that was history as this army came together."

"But do you even know his intentions or why you have done the things you have for him?"

"I never thought to question him after that day. I have done a few terrible things at his command, but I blew the feelings off and remembered what he did for me."

"I see. So where can I find your leader now?"

"You have got a ways to go from here. This room was just a dead end; you would've wound up here as long as you followed that path I showed you. If you want to find the leader you have to go all the way back and follow the path those robos passed you from."

"Alright then."

Knuckles cautiously released his grip on Buckles. Stepping slowly, he walked back towards the door sideways so to keep an eye on the black echidna. When he reached the doorway Knuckles turned his back to the room.

"Although you owe a debt of gratitude to your leader, you'll never find meaning in your life in doing the evil intentions of another."

Knuckles dropped the spike from his hand and let it hit the floor before he sprinted off retracing his steps. Buckles watched the red echidna's hasty exit as those last words simmered into his mind.

Jogging back down the familiar passageway, Knuckles passed the computer room once more and approached the original hallway he had trailed off from. He peered out swiftly to see that it was clear before joining it once more. With great stealth Knuckles found the next room and veered in.

A large elevator shaft was in use of several robos who were transporting large wooden boxes up them. There were only about 20 of them altogether so Knuckles decided to storm the room.

Rushing in quickly, they were taken completely off guard and Knuckles was able to eliminate half of them with no hassle. The rest of them ambushed Knuckles and were able to land a few blows of their own. Forcing two off him with a left punch, he spun his right leg up and kicked one robo back into a few crates.

He tensed his muscles and squeezed out more strength as he fought. He spun a roundhouse kick with his right leg and tore a diagonal gash in one of the robos. He finished him with a punch to the circuitry and prepared for another two who came charging.

He grabbed both of them by the wrist from their ready punches, and pulled them so hard over his head and into the stone that their arms cracked halfway from the force! A pile of mangled pieces crackled with sparks as one robo tackled Knuckles and landed several punches. Knuckles flipped over on top and quickly decapitated him.

Trying to get a few breathes in; he left himself vulnerable for a kick across the back from the last robo. Knuckles grunted angrily and kicked the robo in the chin, breaking his head clean off his shoulders! He gave the lifeless head a solemn look then turned to the strange boxes.

"Now let's see what are in these crates."

He broke a few open to see assorted weapons and other combat items. Nothing was of use to Knuckles for he never forgot the pride in his fists and overlooked the rest of the boxes. He approached the elevator and took it to the top which happened to be the only destination for it.

He emerged into a small isle that led straight and to the left. He didn't have all the time in the world, so he chose straight and headed that way. The passageway widened greatly and opened into a large room. Across the room occupied a massive tower made of yellow stone that climbed into the heights of the base. At the opening to the structure were two robos standing guard.

Knuckles ran in and made quick work of them.

Examining the area a bit closer, the stone appeared to be yellow from years of erosion which made no sense since the rest of the base was still a fresh grey. Upon investigation, Knuckles realized exactly where he was. Remembering back to a monitor in the computer room, it showed a large rectangular structure at the far right of the base.

"This is that bizarre structure from the monitor. It stretches up to all the floors of the base. If I follow it to the top I should emerge on the top floor and I have a hunch the leader is hiding there."

Entering the tower, the entire bottom sector was hollow except for stairs that wound around to the next area. Making speedy footwork, he began his ascent.

End of Chapter 6


	7. Alliance Amongst the Ice

This story is becoming easier and easier to continue. I finally remember the joy of writing fan fictions! Well with that aside, let's progress on into chapter 7!

No reviews? Aw, you people are killin' me!

Note: More Blood.

Chapter 7: Alliance Amongst the Ice

The stone steps climbed a good distance into the height of the tower. As Knuckles made it about halfway up, he stopped and took in much needed breathes of air.

"I nearly forgot about all my wounds" he moaned.

The six from the battle with Buckles had partially healed and possessed a purple hue. A large scratch ran along his back from the surprise kick of the last robo in the crate room. As the wounds continued to regenerate, they grew sore and slightly raw from having been stretched from the movement of his running.

Taking a moment to gently massage his wounds, he was able to relax them into a numb state and pressed onward. As he continued pacing he noticed a stone surface above him. It was the floor of an above room and as he approached the opening he increased his caution. Stepping carefully, Knuckles entered the new room.

A blue mist resonated from the center of the room and chilled his skin as he looked about. Thick sheets of ice lined the walls and ceiling with angry icicles hanging like silent predators. The stairs continued to follow up but were frozen a neon blue from the subzero temperatures. The floor was the only thing untouched by the frost of the room, clearly having been left alone so as not to slide around during a battle.

Peering into the deepening fog, Knuckles noticed a bizarre crystallized wind head in his direction! He rolled to the left as the icy air glided across the entryway, freezing the entire opening! Someone was behind that veil of mist and had just made the final preparations for their combat.

"Did I startle you Knuckles?"

The voice drifted from the back of the room as the fog slowly dispersed and revealed three blue echidnas. White bandanas danced across their heads with the fading mist and went limp as soon as the wind had stopped. Standing in a triangle pattern, the front one spoke up.

"I'm surprised you managed to fight your way so far into the base" his face scowled "But I loathe you for having meddled with our plans so greatly! We won't spare a chance to kill you."

"And neither will I."

The front echidna motioned with a slight wave of his hand and stayed behind as the other two charged forward to assault Knuckles. Challenging them both at once would prove too difficult for him, so he strafed to the left and met the echidna head on. He swung a punch the echidna swiftly dodged to allow for a fist to the stomach. The second one followed up with a downward punch that bounced Knuckles off the ice and back into the wall. The two then rejoined the previous formation.

"You are having difficulty handling the lower class echidnas" boasted the front man "At this rate you shouldn't last very long then. It's a shame though; you don't measure up enough to challenge me."

Knuckles coughed and used the wall to aid his legs in standing. The ice pressed against his back and froze his scratch from earlier, giving him a chill. Sparing himself words, Knuckles stared hatefully at the front man who made the signal for the two to attack again. Knuckles was caught unprepared from the swiftness of their attack and took a few blows to the face and gut.

He managed to force his right leg up and strike one echidna into the other to allow for a quick mental regroup. He leaped to the side and faced them, now ready for their next attack. They gathered themselves up quickly and rushed Knuckles from two sides causing him to become a bit confused.

A black streak slid across the room and struck the left one which distracted the right one for a moment. Knuckles grinned and gave a full force punch into the face of the echidna knocking him back into the equally distracted front man.

Turning his attention to the small hole in the wall from the streak, Knuckles was shocked to see that it was none other than Buckles himself!

"Buckles!"

"Hey there Knuckles, looks like I came just in time."

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought about what you said and looked inside myself. You were right. I didn't see any meaning in my life working for this leader. As atonement I've decided to join you and help you regain your rightful identity. It's the least I can do."

Knuckles cast him a reluctant grin.

"Traitor!"

The front man leaped out from under the small rubble he had been buried in. While in midair, he withdrew a long sword made of solid ice.

"I'll see to it personally that black and red blood covers my sword!"

He directed his raging attack down upon Buckles first who held his fist cuff above his head to block the attack. Knuckles attempted to help Buckles double team him but was stopped short when one of the lower echidnas skid across the floor in front of him and directed a swift kick at him.

Knuckles flew back into the wall but quickly recuperated and caught the fist of the approaching echidna. Jerking him by the fist, Knuckles lowered him down and propelled his knee into the echidna's chest. He then managed a powerful uppercut to knock the echidna across the floor.

Buckles forced his hand to the right, pushing the sword away and brought a swift left punch to the front man's jaw. As his body strayed to the right, the front man brought his sword up in a quick slash that surprised Buckles. Pulling back, Buckles was able to avoid a critical hit but had the side of his wrist was cut open which spewed black blood upon the floor. The front man then connected with a precise punch that sent Buckles back into the wall.

While Knuckles waited for the echidna to get back up, the previous one emerged from the rubble in a quick attack that barely caught Knuckles' eye. Two punches to the face was the damage as Knuckles slammed his own fist into the throat of the echidna which slowed him down a bit. The echidna from the floor had sprung back up and assaulted Knuckles along with his counterpart who had continued fighting against his body's will. Knuckles was careened back into the wall beside Buckles who was in equal pain.

They exchanged glances as they panted.

"Their too strong" managed Buckles "We can't defeat all three of them hand to hand."

As Knuckles panted he made a view of the room when something caught his eye. In the sheet of ice behind them there was a thin crack along the outer surface near the top. Turning his head back forward, Knuckles made a mental measurement before looking back at Buckles.

"See that crack in the ice behind us? Well gather your last bits of strength and follow my lead."

Staggering onto his feet, Knuckles shot a determined glare at their rivals. The front man noticed this and began to ponder.

"What is he plotting?"

In a mad haste, Knuckles turned around and jammed his knuckle into the wall. He leaped upward, tearing his fist through the ice all the way up to the ceiling. The momentum had pulled on his forearm nearly snapping the bone but he had to sacrifice the pain in order to ensure any hope of victory.

Buckles did the same on his side and the two made one final slice across the center and met in the middle.

"Now push Buckles!"

The front man realized their intentions and shouted to his troops "Kill them immediately!"

The trio of echidnas made a hasty dash across the room but was too far away to make the difference they desperately needed. Knuckles and his ally pressed their backs against the wall as leverage and using their feet, forced the massive sheet of ice out from the wall!

The thick sheet careened at top speed towards the blue echidnas which made the front man breathe his final words; "He didn't need strength to challenge me…"

An ear popping slap was heard as the ice was the undoing of the ones who lived by it. The two echidnas landed on the floor with little grace. The impact quaked their ankles and Knuckles fell back onto the floor.

"Hey Knuckles, are you alright!"

Buckles came rushing over to examine him and noticed his wounds were now as blue as the room itself.

"Your wounds, they have frostbite. I have to get you out of this room before you pass out."

Lifting his arm around his neck, Buckles helped Knuckles to his feet and they slowly trudged up the stairs. As he limped, Knuckles looked down at the remains of their battle. Their bodies were smashed and mangled beneath the slab of solid water. As fate would have it, they were cyborgs; half flesh and half metal. That thought relieved Knuckles some but weren't enough to ease his soul from the pain of having to kill them.

"More echidnas just like me" he thought.

He felt his heart split a little as the room was cast out of view.

End of Chapter 7


	8. Suspicious Words

I'm so glad to finally be this far in the story. Never thought I would see the day that Chapter 8 would get written. Now let's see what happens to Knuckles next.

This chapter is dedicated to Knuckles Echidna72, fans like you make writing all worthwhile. -

Note: Wouldn't you know it, blood.

Chapter 8: Suspicious Words

Climbing the stairs with caution, the two echidnas made it to the room above which served as the roof of their icy battlefield. Knuckles pulled his arm off of Buckles and sat down against the nearby wall, scraping his back against the stone a bit as he did. He grunted a breath of air and shivered slightly.

Buckles noticed this and began to rub his hands across each other very quickly until he generated a dark flame around them. He stopped shortly after it appeared and knelt down in front of Knuckles. Holding it out, he was careful not to come too close to Knuckles' wounds.

"This may seem like fire, but it's actually a concentrated form of my aura."

Placing his free hand on the ground, Buckles balanced himself as he warmed the blue gashes.

"This shouldn't take very long" he assured.

The two of them sat silent for a moment; Knuckles had let his eyes drift up to the ceiling to see the stairs that continued to wind even higher into the tower. It made him a bit dizzy to watch them swirl into the vast heights of the base.

"It's funny" Buckles broke the silence "I never thought I would be here treating the wounds I tried to kill you with."

He let a reluctant smile cross his face making it seem as though he enjoyed playing both sides of the army. Knuckles pulled his head back down from the delirium of the drifting stairs and now stared at the floor, his mind full from a quick rush of blood.

"Am I right?"

His voice was low; an icy chain tugged at the bottom of his heart. Buckles looked up at him.

"Am I right to have killed them Buckles?"

Buckles' attention turned back to his aura, the wounds were nearly refreshed.

"You acted out of defense, you thought they were robots and felt the just act was to eliminate them."

He relaxed his hand and the aura disappeared. He stood up and wiped a shoulder off before looking back at Knuckles again.

"In any case, it was a battle and they were to kill you at any cost. They weren't lenient echidnas, so if you let them go, they were sure to return."

Knuckles seemed somewhat relieved but still doubtful of his decision.

"Don't worry so much about it. You have to remember that this is an army replicating you. If you are too sentimental you will not survive."

That statement reminded Knuckles of foes he had encountered in the past. He had to be aggressive or the master emerald would fall into the wrong hands.

"True enough" Knuckles replied "That's the reason I was chosen to be guardian of the master emerald; because I know the difference between compassion and rivalry."

He stood up and noticed much more ease in his body. The chill from the frostbite had acted as a cold compress and had partially healed each of the individual wounds. They were still a bit sore, but were much more painless in Knuckles' movements.

Just as Knuckles was enjoying his regained stamina he noticed a dark fluid on the floor. It ran all the way up the stairs from the ice room and over to Buckles' feet. One hand covered his wrist and his glove was dripping with black blood.

"Your wrist…"

Buckles turned around and tried to hide it.

"It's nothing. There are more important matters…"

Knuckles became silent. He looked down for a moment to conceal his angered look from Buckles' stubbornness. His footsteps echoed as he turned about to begin climbing the stairs once more.

"You're not going to last long if you continue up those stairs" Buckles called up to him.

Knuckles stopped and looked down on him.

"There are literally hundreds of drones waiting up there for you to enter. Even you Knuckles can only take on so many of them."

He looked up from his wound at the passage that led off before him.

"This room is a drop off point that leads elsewhere into the base. We can follow it to a storage room, then directly to the top floor of the tower."

Knuckles had descended back down the stairs and approached Buckles who had turned around. The look in his eye, so calm and centered, it was as if he could visualize everything that was to happen. Knuckles buried the feeling with any suspicion and returned the trust for Buckles was the only lead he had in this base and was willing to risk his life on him telling the truth.

"Alright, let's go."

A passageway led off from the tower and across to another room. Following the detour, they entered the storage area where the only passage up was a ladder on the far side of the room. Knuckles had noticed Buckles was beginning to pant and was losing blood.

"Let's rest here for a bit" he suggested.

Knuckles perched himself atop a crate for a moment to see what Buckles would do next. He was turned away from Knuckles and a bizarre black aura resonated from the top of the wound. The blood across the floor recoiled back to the gash and slowly covered it. It repaired the cut and formed new skin atop it! Buckles turned back around and looked at Knuckles which made him suspicious.

"I'm fine now" he said.

"What did you do?"

Knuckles motioned to his wrist.

"Oh that."

Buckles tried to avoid details.

"It's an old remedy I learned during my training, just something for wounds like that."

The increasing tension in Knuckles' mind was interrupted by the flickering of lights. He looked up to notice the flimsy lamps were swaying back and forth and a few fell, crashing onto the floor. Knuckles leaped down from the crate and peered in the direction the rumbling was rushing from.

Buckles had a strained look on his face as he let Knuckles in on this sudden occurrence.

"It's my fault Knuckles, I made a grave error. This is the storage room where the army conceals their secret weapon."

End of Chapter 8


	9. The OmniCron

I'm really sorry to all my fans. I promise to finish the story this time.

Chapter 9: The Omni-Cron

Knuckles looked on as a crack punctured the stone floor and ran across towards him. He leaped to the side and looked to see that Buckles was gone! He glanced about the room but saw him nowhere.

"Where is he?!" Knuckles thought "Something isn't right."

The far side of the room exploded with massive chunks of the floor careening towards the red echidna. He smashed several with his punches reducing their threat and kicked a few that came as his hands were recoiling. A cloud of dust swooped across his eyes from behind the stones and forced him to hide his vision.

As it cleared he dared to look again. The room was now illuminated in several places by the light of the below floor. There before Knuckles was the orange spherical machine he had earlier been trapped within!

The machine was apparently alive as it waved several massive cables around to show the life in them. Not only was it a machine but from the way it moved it must be a creature as well. Looking closer, he could see pieces of stone encircling part of the cable where they must have been ripped from the floor. Sparks flew from the tip of each one, proving to be a hazard.

It pulled itself upward from the giant pit it had created and perched itself on the ground before Knuckles who was looking on in puzzlement. The other questions in his head surfaced from his amazement and forced him to take a moment to gather them all.

"This is insane. Buckles has disappeared and I can't help but wonder if he brought me here as a trap. Did he really make a mistake in bringing me here? I'll have to trust my instincts."

He turned his attention back to the large machine which began to approach him. It slammed its massive cable against the ground and slowly dragged itself further across the room. Knuckles decided this would be the opportune time to strike. He charged the machine and leaped in the air. He directed a fist towards the center of the orange sphere.

It was deflected.

Knuckles could feel his own inertia reflect against him as he was forced back. He landed on the ground and began to skid but he caught himself and returned to his stance.

"Something's wrong. The sphere is no longer thin and fleshy like it was before. It's too solid and it literally bounced my fist off of it. It must have some strange power; after all it is the secret weapon. I'll try another approach."

He noticed the ends of the whip-like cables were ejecting uncontrolled energy. This was something he could use. He stood beneath one of the cables and left himself open for an attack. He allowed the cable to come crashing down in his direction and jumped out of the way as it slammed into the floor creating a hole to the room below.

Before the machine could recoil itself, he ran closer to the machine and jumped on the closest cable. He ran along it to the end and directed a punch into it to force the cable into the ground. He ran to the side of the stunned cable and began using all his might to just push it across the floor towards the previous cable. It fell into the hole and the two made contact sending thousands of volts of pure electrical energy surging through the machine.

Knuckles ran back from the pit and hurriedly jumped to the ground and protected himself with his arms. The machine struggled to free its two tangled cables but by the time it did it had suffered enough raw voltage into its system to cause it to shutdown. The cables fell limp and the machine slumped forward from then sudden stop of motion.

Knuckles picked himself up slowly, keeping a careful eye on the mechanism. He approached the machine with caution to it give his own investigation. Looking down below, he could see that the metallic base of the machine had a small ball of orange, glowing light inside. Every few seconds it would disperse a piece of its energy throughout the system. Knuckles watched it flow throughout the robot as it began to regain strength. Obviously enough, the machine had reserve energy stored within.

Knuckles knew he had to stop this energy before it recharged the giant weapon. He forced a fist through the casing and made an attempt to use his punch to distort the flow of the energy. As soon as his fist made contact, a piercing electrical shock was sent through his body which caused him to shake violently from the struggle to maintain himself.

A spurt of energy imploded near his fist which forced him sprawling across the ground onto his back. He staggered up into a sitting position and looked on as the giant machine regained color in its orange sphere. It had reawakened and began to bring itself towards Knuckles once more.

"What am I going to do?" he thought "This thing is invincible to physical attacks and I can't damage its spare battery because of the electricity."

Just then, Knuckles felt his head began to ache once again. The piercing was so much more intense and made him yell in agony.

"The pain!! My ears are ringing!"

Knuckles slumped to the floor and held his head with both his fists. He thought he was going to lose his mind.

"Wretched copy" a voice was echoing in his head "Have you no shame for what you have done? You will lose everything, starting with your life!"

"Nooo!"

Knuckles screamed as hard as he could. The struggle was breaking him apart. Something was going to such great lengths to toy with him and the stress was unbearable. His hands began to tremble with a vibrant green.

"Whoever you are…I will say this once…You are going to pay tenfold!"

The rage exploded within Knuckles' heart. He absorbed what felt like 35 of the master emerald's power and created a large sphere in his hand. The sphere grew to an enormous size and engulfed Knuckles.

His feet began to drift off the floor and he began to hover! The power of the master emerald began to defy gravity itself! Holding his coiled fist out before him, he allowed the power to thrust him forward like a massive dagger and strike the machine right in the massive battery!

A large storm of electricity raged from within the machine and it even roared a violent cry of pain as it began to slide back into the giant pit below. Its entire body surged with volts and the sensation was more than overbearing to the machine. Its head exploded into a thousand pieces as the remainder of it slid back to whence it came.

Knuckles landed back on the floor but his body was shaking with an abundant amount of aggression. He was so tense his body could not respond to the master emerald and the gem was eventually forced out from his body!

He fell backwards onto the ground and took a moment to recover from the withdraw. He looked before him at the emerald which was still sparking with energy.

"What have I done?" he thought "The emerald is suffering from my abuse. I am supposed to be greater than anger."

Shame hung heavy on his head as he approached the gem. He knelt down and placed his hand upon the emerald. The energy swirled about his hand but did not affect him. Knuckles began to chant slowly and softly, causing the energy to slowly fade away. He soothed the emerald back to a calm state and then rose again.

"I swear on my title as guardian, I will never harm you again."

The emerald seemed to glow a bright green as if to show its trust in Knuckles. He reabsorbed it and walked over to the ladder on the other side of the room.

His mind was racing with so many thoughts. Where was Buckles? Why was he attacked by that machine? Who was the voice in his head? And what is the crime he continues to speak of?

Searching for further answers, he climbed the ladder and ascended onto the top floor.

End of Chapter 9


	10. So Much Pain Part 1

Gotta finish this story! Help keep me motivated with reviews everyone! We are drawing closer to the climax so let's keep movin'!

Chapter 10: So Much Pain Part 1

As Knuckles climbed the ladder, he slowly emerged into a brand new room. As he planted his feet upon the floor he brought the room into his full view. It was dark, various lights flickered on and off and random beeps could be heard. Machines lined the room just behind the darkness. Looking deeper into them, the blackness felt familiar.

"Buckles" an echo "Are you here?"

The words bounced across the empty halls and the room reflected them back. This part of the base seemed to be hollow. A single dim lamp hung in the center of the room giving barely any light. It seemed to welcome a confrontation.

A figure stepped into the light. It was covered well as Knuckles could hardly make out an outline, no distinct features could be seen.

"Hey you!" shouted Knuckles.

The figure turned about and ran away into an open door. Knuckles followed him as fast as he could. The hallways continued to echo with footsteps as the pursuit moved through them. Twisting and turning Knuckles followed the figure around many turns until he finally became lost. His head began to spin so he stopped and took a moment to look around.

"A labyrinth, I'm being lured into a trap."

The walls were made of a deep gray but Knuckles could see a top edge to them. An odd sensation filled Knuckles as he looked up and saw there was no ceiling. Despite a top to the maze, the room itself continued to stretch into an empty blue hue. By now Knuckles felt it was obvious someone was just playing with him further. Proceeding forward he continued to look for a way out.

The maze was long and many dead ends met Knuckles with displeasure. It was difficult for him to remember his footing for there were no differences in the walls about him. As he continued to pace around he eventually saw a straight path. This was new to him and he ran down it. Reaching the end a black streak passed by him at top speed, one that resembled that of Buckles. Becoming alert, Knuckles chased after it.

Stretching down many paths and winding around different walkways Knuckles could feel the confusion in his head. It was easy to become dizzy and he was struggling to keep up with the wave. Despite its appearance, it moved rather fast and forced Knuckles to keep on pounding after. Just as he believed he would have to surrender the chase once more, they emerged into a circular area of the maze and the streak halted directly across from Knuckles.

His feet quaked a bit from all the running and his heart was pumping from effort and anxiety. The streak began to resonate and swirl about in place. The blackness slowly rose upward and formed the shape of an echidna and the features were soon to follow.

"Buckles, is that you?

Sure enough, Buckles evolved from the black streak and stood solemnly before Knuckles. The only thing different was the fact that he was missing his sunglasses. Knuckles was finally able to look into his eyes. They were dark and cold, like a winter night that knows no end. Shivers rose up and down his body.

"Help me…"

Buckles body hovered just off the ground and then raced towards Knuckles. A punch was forced across Knuckles' cheek and left him bewildered.

"What are you doing?!"

Buckles continued to throw punches and kicks, forcing Knuckles to leap back and dodge them. He did not wish to counter until he knew the facts but as he tried to understand, a few attacks would slip by and wound Knuckles.

"Gah, stop Buckles!"

The onslaught pursued and Buckles formed two balls of black energy in his hands then tossed them at Knuckles. He dodged them and they crashed against the wall, making a sizzling noise. They burned a ring in the wall but not enough to actually eat through it.

As Knuckles' mind struggled to grasp an idea, he noticed something emerging from Buckles' back. Three long, black tentacles were stitched into his spine and were pulsating like a heart. As they would beat, Buckles seemed to decide on his next move.

"He's being controlled! Something has a powerful manipulation over him but from the looks of those appendages, it may just kill him to remove those by force."

Buckles arm began to fester and the shape of it reformed into that of a long blade.

"Knuckles…run away…"

He charged Knuckles and swung the mighty blade. Knuckles jumped upwards over the sword and then landed a kick upon one of the tentacles. A horrible scream bellowed from Buckles' who began to writhe in pain. The sight was horrific to Knuckles. His new friend was struggling under another's will and freedom seemed to elude him.

"Buckles, are you okay?!" he cried.

"Rahh!"

The long sword was brought upward and across Knuckles' chest. Blood splashed from his muscles and painted the floor in many splotches. The two of them locked eyes, trying to make some sort of connection.

"To save me, you must kill me…the leader…he is up there…"

He made a light motion to the other side of the room. Knuckles looked up and saw the figure he had just been chasing standing atop one of the labyrinth walls. His mind became filled with thoughts. The cloaked figure, from when he was knocked out, was standing there menacingly, looking down upon the two of them.

Still no features could be seen except a red light near its head. A long black shadow stretched across the room, down the corridor walls and up into Buckles' back! The leader was controlling Buckles with some kind of evil power!

Writhing in pain, Buckles looked on sadly.

"I'm sorry, friend."

The tentacles shifted once more and the blade was forced deeper into Knuckles' torso! As more blood splashed upon the ground, Knuckles could feel himself growing faint. The top of his vision was becoming white, the back of his head spinning; he could feel himself slipping away.

To Be Continued


	11. So Much Pain Part 2

Knuckles is in trouble, let's see what happens next.

Chapter 11 So Much Pain Part 2

His vision was fading into an all white. Slowly it was descending down over Buckles' face and he could feel his body move downward and collapse upon the floor. His sight was engulfed into the emptiness like a curtain setting on a stage, this act is over.

"White…all white…"

Knuckles found himself standing in an entirely white room with nowhere in sight. As he looked about his mind continued to contemplate.

"Where am I? Where did the army go? I have to save Buckles! I have to get back there!"

He began to run around, looking for any sign of something different. Deep down he knew what was going on between him and Buckles and he knew that no matter what he had to return to resolve this dispute! He had to end the army's torture!

As he continued to search, nothing was turning up. He ran into the distance quite a ways and nothing would appear. He jumped up and even tried to tear open the ground but nothing would suffice. He wasn't even becoming tired which was a bad sign.

"Am I dead? Is this some kind of limbo?"

Knuckles slowly began to believe this would be his end when something appeared before him. A figure…a familiar one…

"You're the only one to beat me in a fight. You acted so tough and here you are giving in like a frustrated child. It makes me sick…"

Knuckles looked to recognize the figure, it was Buckles!

"Buckles!"

"Yeah yeah, nothing too soft, ok pal."

Buckles appeared as he normally did, before becoming controlled by the leader.

"Where are we? What's going on?"

"All questions and no answers. Haven't you figured anything out? Right now we are inside your consciousness and I am the memory you have of me. Listen, you have been knocked out for the moment and your body brought you here as a last defense to keep you alive. If you can get your head on straight you can win this fight, but…"

He paused and then pulled off his sunglasses. His eyes were the same cold black as before.

"…if you can't pull yourself together right here and right now, you will die and the leader will take your legacy and destroy all traces of it."

"Why does he hate me so much? What crime is he speaking of?"

"Remember the choice you made during the Emerald war?"

Knuckles mind suddenly flashed back to an earlier time. He found himself standing on the sight of a burning village. Flames licked the air like demonic tongues that could finally taste death once more. The small huts were black from the pain and slowly being reduced to ash along with those who lived in them. Knuckles walked slowly inward as his mind recaptured the event.

The village was either entirely abandoned or completely destroyed, it was hard to tell. As the fires raged on, Knuckles look onward toward the back of the village and saw a red echidna standing there, it was him nonetheless! He rushed forward to see what was happening.

Standing there with his legs shaking like thunder, Knuckles was panicked. He continued looking back and forth at two separate piles of burning wood. A red echidna was trapped in between the boards of one pile and a black echidna was stuck within the other.

"Help Brother!" cried the red one.

"Save me!" cried the black one.

Sweat rolled down Knuckles cheek because there were about a hundred yards apart yet their screams rang so loud in his ears. He had to save one but time was short and he couldn't just let them both die! Tearing down his own mind, he went with the decision that came to heart.

"Anthony!"

Knuckles ran as hard as he could toward the red echidna and quickly through the burning wood off from his body. His back legs were singed and slightly black.

"Anthony are you ok?!"

"Hurry and save…Trevor…"

Knuckles looked over at the other burning pile and saw the black echidna still trapped. Racing as fast as he could, his legs were struggling to keep up. As he grew closer, he noticed the pile was beginning to collapse!

"No!"

When Knuckles was within a few feet, the pile collapsed and the black echidna could no longer be seen! Frantically Knuckles tried to rip the boards off of him but the extreme heat had caused him to become fatigued and most of his energy was burned away from the running. No matter how hard he tried, Knuckles could not remove the boards and was forced to withdraw. He looked down in horror, as the flames continued to devour the young echidna. Indeed this was a grave day.

Standing only a few feet from the incident was the Knuckles of present time who had to rewitness the entire scene. Just as his heart began to fill up with remorse, the scenery changed. The same village, the same fire, only days later. The clouds were a deep cry and seemed to be saddened themselves from the tragedy. Once delicate homes that housed many happy echidnas, were now piles of ash that were incinerated memories and lost friends.

As Knuckles looked on he was standing before a grave. A small rock was placed at the base where the fire had been and many flowers decorated the top of it. Knuckles and his younger brother stood there, beginning to weep.

"Say a prayer Anthony…say a prayer…"

The young echidna began to weep and couldn't control the pain he felt in his chest. Knuckles stood beside him with a hand on his shoulder and a tear sliding down each cheek. From the background, the memories were just that horrible to relive and he began to weep once more. The scenery faded a slow white and Knuckles found himself once again within the white area with Buckles, still holding those tears in his eyes.

"You remember…"

"Why does youth have to be obliterated like that?"

Buckles was silent. As Knuckles continued to cry he soon recovered his composure. He faced Buckles with bloodshot eyes.

"Why must I see such pain yet again?"

"Not everyone will accept the choice you made…and if you wish to know that answer…then wake up and start fighting. Everything up to this point has prepared you for this very moment. Now wake up!"

The words echoed loudly across the room to Knuckles and he began to feel a sensation in his chest. A deep red light illuminated his body; it made him feel as though he was going to burst. Looking down at his palms, the green where the master emerald had been was slowly moving upward into his chest.

"Ah! I understand now! I must fight to put an end to his sorrow!"

Knuckles chest exploded with a brilliant light of red and green. The symbol of the master emerald formed across his torso and the power revealed itself with great intensity! The aura around Knuckles seemed to engulf the entire area as it repainted the labyrinth along with Knuckles, Buckles, and the leader.

Lifting his head, Knuckles looked back into Buckles' eyes. They were a fiery red like never before.

"Are you ready to be saved? The pain ends today."

To Be Continued e He Hihdfhef


	12. So Much Pain Conclusion

Reviews please, here's the new chap. Almost done.

Chapter 12: Relieving a Friend

Knuckles let out a wild roar and punched the blade Buckles had made. It broke in half and sent him back in bewilderment. He then pulled the other half right out of his chest with little hesitation and tossed it aside. The wound in his torso slowly began to heal before Knuckles went on the offensive.

He landed several punches to Buckles' face and sent him back but the tentacles reacted and Buckles shot out a large dark ball of energy. Knuckles slapped it aside then sent a swift kick across Buckles face and forced him back into a labyrinth wall. He broke out and rushed forward with his other arm formulated into a blade. Knuckles sidestepped and broke it in two as well. Buckles leaped back and looked at both his arms; they were shattered blades.

Buckles attacks were proving futile, Knuckles power had become so strong it was difficult to even land a single strike. The limited control he had on his mind was fading and soon he would no longer be able to resist the leader.

"Knuckles…finish me hurry!!! Ahhh!"

The tentacles lifted Buckles high up above the labyrinth. He fidgeted and struggled as he was nearly beyond his own mind. A moment later, and he let out a horrific cry. A deep black pulse was sent through the tentacles and into his body. Buckles entire body become covered in a flaming black aura and his eyes were turned a pure blood red. Two large fangs appeared in the corners of his mouth and he rushed down at top speed towards Knuckles!

He caught Knuckles a tad off guard and managed to land a bite on the side of his neck. He let out a groan and punched Buckles aside which seemed to have no effect. Just as quickly he seemed to come back at Knuckles with his fangs and lunge but he barely dodged and turned to look at Buckles. He looked like a demon.

"Buckles…what has he done…you are a product of his game and you are hurting so badly…"

Buckles rushed at him once more and slashed with arms. They seemed more like claws at the speed he was swinging his hands as Knuckles could barely stay outside their range. He wasn't paying attention and ran his back into the wall which left him vulnerable to a slash across the chest. He roared and did a rolling dodge out of the way.

As Buckles brought his next slash Knuckles acted quickly enough to grab him by the arm. He pulled hard and tossed the demonic echidna into the wall, stunning him. Knuckles landed several quick punches to his torso and then leaped back as he began to get up. Buckles pulled himself out of the wall and flew straight across the room, still upside down, and slammed his hand against Knuckles'. He let out a hysterical laugh as he pursued Knuckles for another attack but he dodged and Buckles slammed his head into the floor. It left a small crater.

Knuckles was panting, he was struggling to keep up with this freakish power.

"I can't keep this up…he's tiring me out…I have to finish it…"

Closing his eyes, Knuckles held his hands together and let a green aura resonate around his arms. Buckles saw this and stopped in his tracks. The leader was watching intently and held his puppet at a standstill. Knuckles' arms were engulfed in the green light and continued to flare like flames as he readied himself to fight.

Taking off from where he stood, Knuckles moved fast enough to catch Buckles off guard and delivered a massive punch that sent Buckles reeling. The momentum continued and several more fists were forced against Buckles' face which bore a painful expression. Sliding a long kick upward, Knuckles sent his foe upward, still with the shock the blows in his body. Leaping upward, Knuckles jumped above him and turned around to face his opponent.

Closing his eyes, he slid one hand across his other arm and solidified it into a long, emerald blade. He opened his eyes and looked down upon Buckles weary body. He braced his heart and then flew downward with all the force he could muster. The blade ripped through Buckles' chest and out the other side and for that moment time seemed to sit still. Knuckles' face was hard like a stone and Buckles was in turmoil as he began to realize he was dying. Knuckles pulled the blade back out quickly and let his friend's body hit the floor. The sound of the impact echoed throughout the entire labyrinth and matched the scream Knuckles held in his heart.

As he landed, he let himself go and howled like a beast into the emptiness of the maze. It was like having every nerve in his chest torn out and all he wanted to do was fall to the floor and give in to the pain. But another feeling overwhelmed the pain and made his blood pump harder when he looked up. He stared at the leader who stood atop a maze wall with an ugly smirk on his face. The anger inside of Knuckles almost made his muscles explode and his mind shut down.

The villain chuckled to himself and then let out his own maniacal laugh. He acted as if the pain from Knuckles was being absorbed right into him and he loved everyone moment of it. He jumped down from the wall and approached Knuckles, standing across from him.

"Now you're ready to fight."

End of Chapter 12, Conclusion of So Much Pain Episode


	13. The Leader's Resolve Part 1

Man, no reviews? You guys are killin' me. Any who, here comes the next chap. The end is coming soon.

Chapter 13: The Leader's Resolve Part 1

Knuckles looked upon the leader with a disgusted glare. Never before had he felt such hatred inside his soul. He was going to do all he could to make this…monster…suffer. The leader paced about, still with a smirk on his face. His cloak covered all but the side of his face. A red light shined from where Knuckles believed his eye to be.

"Ha ha ha, you simple little echidna. Playing with you has been so much fun. I had no idea you would fight so hard to get to me. You have proved quite worthy to stand here beside me and it is something I had hoped for all along."

"You sick freak! Because of your little game I had to kill my own ally and fight through more pain than I could have ever imagined! You have to be the most insane person I have ever met in my life!"

The anger inside of Knuckles made his face hot and flush. He felt he would lose his cool at any moment.

"Oh what delight I feel! You have fought this far and still don't know the extent of the agony you should feel."

Knuckles was puzzled and knew something was terribly wrong.

"You may not have noticed, but all those 'robots' you had been fighting were formerly echidnas. I originally took control of their minds with a little darkness matter and they were happy to do my bidding. Unfortunately their flesh continued to break down, fight after fight, so I had to gradually replace them with steel. You were so busy tearing them apart I doubt you noticed all the blood you've spilled. I gave it more iron to keep it from spilling everywhere. "

Knuckles was mortified, he couldn't help but feel frozen as sweat slowly rolled down the side of his face. His stomach was beginning to churn itself and he thought he may vomit.

"Oh and let's not forget about how you took back your precious emerald. Surely you realize by now that you ended all of their lives by removing that. Tsk tsk, your race is a little lonelier now isn't it?"

Knuckles felt his chest tighten up as his heart began to bare this intense pressure. He knew the leader was trying to break him emotionally but what he was saying was exactly what Knuckles never wanted to hear.

"Ah yes, that tower. You remind climbing up it don't you Knuckles? Don't you find it particularly curious that it was made of different materials than this fortress? I remember it quite well. It was made of a solid, rustic yellow. It almost seemed like some sort of ruins but what in the world would that be doing here?"

Knuckles became anxious, he knew he was about to hear something terrible and tried to cover his ears but his curious mind continued to cling to the leader's words.

"It's just a little something I picked up for you. Namely, the ruins where your birth ceremony was held. I do believe it will make a lovely site for your grave once we are finished here."

This bit of information was like a shot through Knuckles' mind. In his tribe, a ritual was held to welcome life into this world and the ruins for this ritual represented the morals of old that would be instilled in life anew. To defile such a place with blood and violence…this was inexcusable. It was as if he wanted to taint Knuckles very life from where it began.

"You…you heartless beast…you have no emotions…"

"On the contrary my friend, I have plenty of emotions. Rage, aggression, sadness and pain, but most of all I have hatred, for you."

"But why…why all this mayhem…"

"You may recall a time, long ago, when you were forced to make a decision of life and death. It occurred during the Emerald War."

The leader slowly began to pull away his cloak, revealing himself. It was like pulling the curtain up on a stage to reveal the next act, where the characters were now. This was the leader after that horrible war.

"Trevor!"

The cloak flew off of him like a broken wing being pulled from an angel. His right eye was nothing but a bright red light, no longer an organ of sight. It was deep within his head, surrounded by pieces of steel that seemed to engulf the side of his face. No longer could some of his pain be seen unless you looked within the other eye which was a dark red with heavy lines beneath it.

His right arm was an eerie white color from the dead nerves inside. It was covered in wrinkles and bizarre marks after being scarred by the flames. A large unsightly scar moved down across his chest, it looked as though it was made by a blade. The rest of his body appeared slightly muscular, it was evident he had to struggle against great odds to live to see this moment.

"This…this is the result of those foolish echidnas greed. The Haiti clan was peaceful; we only wanted life to be prosperous for our race. Then the Endo clan had to decide it was best for us to be the strongest race that ever existed. They defied countless laws and did all they could to get the master emerald. You, Knuckles, are a direct descendent of that clan and all the more reason you didn't save me that day!!"

By now Knuckles had been shocked so much that he could barely keep his mind in one piece. Memories of that bloody war rushed through his thoughts and it intensified the pain he was feeling from this trial. He began to pant and clutch his head tightly as if he would physically keep his head together. He fell to his knees and believed his head would explode at any moment. His stomach was empty and he waves of nausea rushed over him. Hot and cold flashed visited him and made it all the more difficult. He was exposed to the pain of the leader and couldn't help but feel some bit of sympathy in his heart.

Trevor looked to the side and seemed to do some reflecting of his own. His voice was solemn and soft.

"It's not just the fact you allowed me to be burned alive, it's the fact you battled against some of my own tribe that angers me. You may not have killed anyone but I often believe it would be best if you had just done so to me. Echidnas will forever be tied to violence and as such, I will enact my revenge on you not only for myself but for the entire Haiti clan."

Knuckles was finally regaining control of himself and rested on knee. He continued to pant with fresh sweat upon his head, his eyes were half closed and weary. Trevor looked down upon Buckles.

"Buckles was the first to feel my pain and he will now have his peace."

Trevor raised his hands and pressed them together. He focused and then shot forth a tentacle from his palm that sliced into the motionless body. Slowly he began to drain Buckles body and absorb it right into his very own. Before long Buckles was nothing more than a memory.

"It's not like I lost anything when I gave him those powers."

A small black flash spurted from his aura.

"He was just a filthy Endo who wanted power to fuel his own needs. I gave him power but in return he gave me his life. A fitting end to scum."

Knuckles was beginning to feel the rage in his body once again. He had to begin to work up the energy because now was the time to finish all this chaos.

"Now Knuckles, I can dine on the real delicacy. Prepare yourself."

He began pacing towards Knuckles who was still on one knee. The battle began.

To Be Continued


	14. The Leader's Resolve Conclusion

Sorry for the wait, the holidays had me busy. Let's watch the battle unfold.

Chapter 14: The Leader's Resolve Conclusion - Ghost

Trevor was pacing towards Knuckles who still rested on one knee. Knuckles knew he had to use this moment to launch his offensive. He charged Trevor and swung his right fist but the punch missed. Trevor seemed to slide across the ground as he moved, veering up right behind Knuckles and striking him with a mighty punch. Knuckles toppled a bit but caught himself quickly, he rushed Trevor once more.

Trevor ducked beneath the punch and jumped up over the following sweep kick. Knuckles tried another punch but it was caught mid motion and made him freeze. The leader yelled and a huge wave of energy forced Knuckles back and rolling across the ground. Knuckles stopped himself and took a moment to breathe.

"Even using only my aura I can outmatch you. Sad, you fought so devilishly, tearing through all my obstacles and here you are barely able to stand up in comparison to my spirit. Pathetic, I was hoping for such a good fight."

Knuckles was panting and slowly recovering from all the ugly words stuck in his mind. Deep down he could sense he was afraid he would be overcome but he was braver than that and stood back up.

"After all I've put you through it seems you haven't toughed up at all. Still upset Knuckles? Does it hurt to know how your friend is dead or how you got to see those mangled echidnas beneath that ice after you beat them?"

Knuckles growled.

"I'm taking it up a notch; you'd better do the same."

Trevor rushed Knuckles so quickly he couldn't react. A vicious uppercut pulled Knuckles from the ground as he floated upward. Trevor leaped up and punched him back down into the stone. Knuckles tumbled over himself and as he recovered he looked up to see the leader flip in midair and pivot his body like a missile. With a roar a large black wave overcome his face and he flew downward with such intensity that Knuckles barely tossed himself out of the way.

Trevor smashed into the ground with a large boom and several pieces of gravel flew from the area. A fair crater was formed and Knuckles stared on as he pulled himself out of the hole. He looked at Knuckles with a sadistic stare and then seemed to vanish in place.

"Wha?! Oooof!"

The leader reappeared before Knuckles and striked a hard fist into his sternum; knocking the wind from his body. He held Knuckles up by that same fist and pressed him against the wall.

"You think that cloak was for show my dear friend? It's actually a weighted training suit, equal if not greater to my own body weight. I make the most of my training even when I'm not swinging my fists, more than anyone could ever say about you."

Knuckles wanted to growl but he could barely breathe, the leader's fist was still rammed into his sternum.

"You are still too arrogant, perhaps when you see some blood you'll start to learn something."

He held out his opposite hand and forged a dagger made of pure energy. He looked Knuckles in the eye with such insanity Knuckles knew he was about to feel something similar to the leader's pain. He pulled the dagger slowly down across Knuckles' cheek and red blood slowly crawled out and slid down his face. Knuckles' eyes began to shrink, fear was beginning to surface as the leader moved the dagger toward Knuckles' chest and striked a huge gash. Knuckles cried out as he felt his wound scream. The leader only laughed at this.

"Ha ha ha, come now I'm nowhere near that little heart of yours. Although I do want to carve it out so I can see just what you were feeling when you watched me become buried beneath flames."

The leader pushed the dagger in a little deeper, playing with the wound. Knuckles winced and cried out manically. He was being hurt beyond belief; his mind was starting to lose its ability to deal with the stress. Then the leader ripped the dagger out swiftly, tearing the gash much larger and flinging blood everywhere. Knuckles was in so much pain he could only stare upwards and barely force a breathe. The leader licked his dagger clean and savored the taste.

"Mm, you express pain so well. Your blood is so delicious; I can taste your strength and your agony. Ooh, it's giving me shivers to think about it."

Knuckles shifted his down slowly and looked unto the insane one again.

"As wonderful as this all is I believe it's time to speed things up. I want to see how long I can keep you alive."

He began moving the dagger towards Knuckles' neck as time seemed to slow. Knuckles' could feel himself vanishing into his thoughts once again, too shocked from the fear to stay conscious.

Deep within his thoughts, Knuckles was standing in a black room all alone. Questions were being spoken out loud and echoing into the distance.

"Why is he doing this? Why did I kill Buckles? Why can't I fight back? Where is my courage? Why did I kill Buckles? Why can't I move my arms? Why did I kill Buckles? Where is my strength? Why did I kill Buckles? WHY DID I KILL HIM?!"

The last question screamed itself into his head and silenced all the others. Tears started to stream down Knuckles' face and drip down onto the floor, echoing into the emptiness.

"What have I done…I made the wrong choice. I'm no better than the leader."

From the distance a white fog began to drift forward, covering the area. It was like stepping into another realm, a deeper level of his conscious. From the distance a figure moved forward and revealed itself to be Buckles. He had on a serious face and Knuckles wasn't sure what this was going to mean. The two stared at each other as the fog drifted slowly past, briefly covering their faces.

"Knuckles when are you going to grow up? If the leader couldn't teach you, then I guess I have to teach you death's lesson to make you understand."

End of Chapter 14, Conclusion of The Leader's Resolve Episode


	15. The Realm of the Mind

Big apology to all my fans. Lol, now I just sound like a broken record.

Chapter 15: The Realm of the Mind

Knuckles was so shocked to see Buckles standing before him, he lunged forward to give him a hug but drifted right through.

"That's right; I'm just a figment of your imagination."

Knuckles looked at him in bewilderment, what was going on?

"I live on as a part of you Knuckles, so don't think this isn't real. You're here for a reason."

"But what about the fight? I'm going to die if I don't do something!"

"Relax will ya? Time stands still in this place. A deeper consciousness brought you here because you still don't understand. In order for you to win this fight, you have to understand the leader himself and to do that; I will show you what death has done to affect him so."

The fog was washed away from the back and foregrounds. A scene with a burning village came into view and the two of them were standing in the middle of it.

"Not here again…no…"

"Just watch."

Deep within the flames, a small black echidna was pulling himself out from beneath a pile of burning wood. Knuckles started to run over but Buckles stopped him.

"He can't see you and you can't interact with this world."

Knuckles poised himself and continued to watch the scene. The echidna managed to free himself of the fiery prison and stood up in a wobbly manner.

"Hey…somebody…help…"

He was so tired he could barely yell. There was a large boulder nearby and the echidna walked over and fell behind it. He had fallen unconscious.

The scene wiped itself away again like a painting the artist no longer wished to see. An ashy, gray sky replaced the bright, destructive orange. The small echidna was seen again, waking up from behind the large boulder. He coughed and stood up slowly. He rubbed his head and wiped the soot from his face. Looking around, everything was desolate to the eye.

The homes were reduced to piles of ash and lumber that hadn't burned completely through. Trees were black and bare, still standing above the fallen houses. In a few areas, bones were protruding from the dirty plains, charred, but still staring into the hopeless sky. Stumbling around, the echidna looked for help, looked for anyone or anything, that could help him.

Loneliness followed behind him like a reaper that waited for his body to give in. He was fortunate to find a few shelves in the houses remained. They possessed little food, but was enough for the time given. The echidna had tears in his eyes as he tried to rebuild what little strength he could. The scene was wiped again.

Brought to life before them this time, was a dark throne room. A black echidna was kneeling before a throne shrouded in darkness.

"I have nowhere else to go. I am a loner. Let me join your army, please. I won't question your orders."

The figure stood up from his throne, his outline hardly visible. He made a hand gesture and an echidna came running in. He seized the soldier by his throat and lifted him up. A black, sizzling aura surrounded his hand and destroyed the echidna within his grasp. He looked down at the kneeling echidna who was holding back from trembling.

"You won't question my orders?" he said in a gruff voice.

"N-never my liege! I will be the embodiment of our strength for your cause!"

"Good."

He held his palm outward and sent a surge of black electricity into the echidna's body. He winced but held his own through the attack.

"Get used to your powers. Go, assert yourself above the other peons."

"Yes sir!"

The scene was erased from sight yet again, leaving the two echidnas amongst themselves.

"I never liked that last scene very much" said Buckles.

Knuckles was overturning everything he saw in his mind. "Trevor isn't an ordinary echidna. If I had saved him all that time ago, maybe we could've avoided all this. I actually feel, sorry, for him."

He looked up at Buckles whose arms were crossed. He seemed to be waiting.

"Well Knuckles, do you understand now?"

"All his life, Trevor had to live with death all around him. His home, his army, and himself; he's been waiting for death to come to him all these years. I'm the only one who can do it for him, give him the satisfaction."

"That's what he wants, yes, but look at the mayhem he has wrought. You're not the only Endo he has hurt to try and bring his depressing dream to fruition. Many other echidnas of our race have been killed."

The scene appeared as a single solid image. A village blazing into the sky, much like before, with hundreds of echidnas clad in armor, marching through the city. Civilians were running and screaming, struggling to get away. Upon the centermost hut on the village, stood a figure; he had an open cloak and a bright red eye that pulled his menacing smile into reality. With his fists clenched, he was wringing life from the tranquil homes.

"I don't like this picture much either." He pointed to a particular spot where a black echidna was hiding behind a hut.

"Need I say more? He sure is well acquainted with this type of scene isn't he?"

Knuckles was growing angry. The pit of his stomach was dancing in fire. His eyes were being covered in various colors from the strain.

"I'm gonna get him. I am going to finish this once and for all."

"Easy Knuckles, I believe ya. But first there's one thing you gotta do."

Knuckles looked at him curiously.

"WAKE UP!"

With a shove he forced Knuckles backwards and the entire room seemed to quake. It was like he fell into a pit, watching all the blackness around him flood upward. Next thing he knew, he saw Trevor, who was still holding him up by his chest. The dagger was coming for his throat and Knuckles kicked his arm away. He sunk his teeth into his other arm and was freed from his grasp.

Trevor jumped back and winced from the bite. Knuckles looked up at him with a sinister smile and a look that could kill. His red aura was beginning to flare up.

"This is it. I am going to kill you!"

End of Chapter 15


	16. Finale: An Army of One

Here goes everybody, the conclusion. After this chapter is posted I intend on doing a commentary chapter afterward so stay posted. This chapter is pretty long; it's my way of saying thanks to all my fans who stuck by me during the dry spells of updates.

Finale: An Army of One

Knuckles charged the Leader, his aura burning like a volatile sun. He slammed a punch across Trevor's cheek and followed through with an uppercut from his free hand. Trevor was sent upward and Knuckles leaped into the air to meet him. He delivered a swift kick and sent Trevor sprawling into the nearby wall.

"You won't keep me down any longer!"

Trevor was pressed into the wall high above the ground as Knuckles yelled up at him. He was surprised at this sudden surge of power, but his face wasn't entirely afraid. Knuckles curled himself into a ball and rolled himself forward. As he gained momentum, his aura torched a deeper red, like a bomb that was about to blow. The ball pushed itself off the ground and streaked red through the air as it collided into the Leader.

He depressed him further into the wall and cracked it deeply. Knuckles landed before him as Trevor sprawled down unto the ground. The wounds on Knuckles' body began to ache again. His head felt that familiar sharp pain and the severe gash on his chest wept more blood. Struggling, Knuckles could feel his body start to shut down, but in a blind fury Knuckles forced more energy out of his body through anger. It numbed the sensation of pain and gave him an energy that felt like fire rolling from his lips.

The Leader stood up slowly, appearing frailer than before. He looked at Knuckles with exhausted eyes. He had been fighting all his life, now he had to fight his greatest opponent yet.

"You don't seem to understand Knuckles…"

He looked at Trevor unknowingly.

"I've fought against everything and all in hopes that one day, someone like you would decide my fate. This is _my _fight. I've prepared you too long to be beaten by your anger."

Trevor coughed a few times before his palms began to glow green. Knuckles was shocked at the sight.

"That's right. I had a little free time during your blackout. I know how to master _this_ emerald. I'm going to murder you, erase you in the power of my aura."

Trevor's hands began to shine a resilient green. It was deeper than the tops of trees yet more graceful than a field of grass. A white glimmer reflected into the green. It was like looking into the face of the god of destiny.

"One…" he panted "One hundred…percent…"

His body exploded with ferocity from the magnitude of the energy. Green pierced the deepest region of Knuckles' eyes, who shielded himself from it. It filled the room and illuminated the metallic island from within. A crystallized armor formed around Trevor's entire body. It slowly coated himself from his hands and feet all the way around the top of his head. It was like he became the emerald itself.

Radiating like some sort of demigod, he faced Knuckles. Such horror raced through Knuckles' mind. This was the ultimate taboo, forsaking the powers of the master emerald like they were play things. Already had his race suffered great tragedies in its name; now here he faced the abomination. Rage poured like hot water through his veins. Fury pounded at his psyche as he slammed his fists into the ground. This was his only victory, the power of anger manifested.

"I don't need the emerald" he muttered "I am strong enough to defeat you. I am guardian of the master emerald; I will be stronger than any evil that uses its power!"

With a track like dash, Knuckles sprinted forward. Trevor did the same on his end. They moved so quickly it was as if time had begun to slow down. As they collided, nearly half of the metallic base exploded. They both were caught in the wind of the explosion and blown back into a piece of flying debris.

Trevor leaped at Knuckles and smashed the rock he was standing on. Knuckles leaped up to another boulder and pushed himself back down at Trevor. He landed a kick that forced them both into a flying sheet of metal. It suffered a massive dent and tilted the sheet into a horizontal plane. Knuckles raced down the spiraling steel slate and slammed his fist into Trevor, shattering some of his emerald barrier and hurdling them both downward into the ground.

The sky was clear as rocks and steel flew through the emptiness of the air and drifted back down toward Earth. Several different remains landed around them on the new ledge of the base. They landed atop each other, and as the dust settled, Knuckles sat up and began punching away at the Leader. Small pieces of emerald flew away as he attacked. Trevor clasped his hand across Knuckles' throat and opened his eyes. He sat up and held Knuckles up above him. He looked across the sky as a pointed steel column came hurdling down toward them.

Trevor formed a green brace across Knuckles' throat and pounded him down into the stone. He quickly jumped away as the column skewered into the area where he was standing. The Leader couldn't help but grin as he watched, but that quickly became a look or aggravation. The giant spear was glowing red from the bottom and began to melt. Knuckles' aura was so hot with anger that it was literally melting the column from below. As soon as he got a free moment, he rolled out of the way as the column collapsed onto the ground. He grunted and flexed his arms, enabling him to disband the brace.

He started walking towards the Leader, moving slower, with a light red aura now. Trevor knew he was getting tired; he just had to keep pushing him. He waved his arm and sent three green spikes of energy at Knuckles. Knuckles punched two away quickly but one of them sliced into the side of his arm. He moaned and fell to one knee. His entire body cried out in one great throb. His chest, neck, arm, back, and head all complained from the strain.

"No…not this…I have to keep…pushing…myself…"

The Leader walked up to him, staring down coldly. His armor was chipped across his face and body. His red eye flared as he punched Knuckles across the face. Knuckles fell to his back and Trevor leaned down and began attacking away. Each hit was more severe than the last and eventually the tingling feeling began to outweigh the hurt. His body had suffered so much abuse, he couldn't handle anymore. This was his limit. He looked into the eyes of Trevor. One was red, the robot who had cursed his existence. The other, was black, filled with the remorse of being alone and in pain. He could find no balance between these two.

Knuckles' mind again raced with the images he had witnessed earlier; the flames, the darkness of being alone with misery, and Buckles. Buckles…

Knuckles looked the Leader straight in the eye and roared. He punched him directly in the face, shattering all the armor around it. He was woozy and could barely stand, but he was going to die fighting. He let his fists glow with a deep red energy and began swinging violently. The attacks were so quick that Trevor could only dodge a few. The ones that connected bruised his cheeks and forced him to spit blood several times. Then Knuckles let all his fury loose into one mighty punch that slammed the Leader so hard into the ground it sent him bouncing backward.

"That…is for Buckles…"

As Knuckles steadied himself, his vision went blurry once or twice. Then something occurred. He wasn't sure if he was just dizzy or if he had done something important. As Trevor stood to his feet, he felt a jolt of pain. His red glass eye cracked and then shattered in a bizarre glow of flying shards. He held his face as a blackness seeped downward from the hole in his eye to the ground. It raced across the stone and swirled around at Knuckles' feet.

Knuckles could hardly believe his eyes. The darkness swept up through his feet and entered every pore on his body. It was warm and didn't feel frightening, yet familiar. His wounds seemed to sing as the energy raced past them. As it flowed into his face, Knuckles heard a voice within his head.

"This is the best I can do…to atone for what I've done…"

"Buckles…"

Knuckles had given his all, again and again. He used his heart in every decision he had made so far and was still brave enough to make the hard decision. The tyranny of the army plagued his conscious in many ways and made him question his ability to fight, yet despite it all; he had stood against the Leader with all that he was and all he ever thought he could be. Now…now he had earned the trust of the dark powers Buckles once knew.

"He wasn't a puppet Trevor."

Trevor looked at him, holding his broken eye.

"He was as real as you and me. You're going to die, but not on your terms, you're going to die on mine."

Knuckles ran towards the staggering Trevor, his aura flaring red and black in a melancholy of color. He punched him in the face, and then directed a kick across into his sternum. His attacks landed so strongly they shook Trevor where he stood. Knuckles sent another punch at Trevor but was stopped by a green aura. He punched back at Knuckles multiple times before lunging at him and rushing them both back into the wall.

An alarm was beginning to sound from a nearby room. A red light flashed through what little darkness the fortress still had to show. The base was losing altitude from the open sore the two created upon it. They were hurdling down towards the ground in a blazing display of gravity.

Trevor punched and kicked Knuckles as many times as he could. His attacks sifted through Knuckles' aura but did not cut through its glow. Knuckles retaliated with several punches of his own that broke away at the armor on Trevor's chest. It cracked and chiseled until chunks would finally break apart. The Leader was being beaten and was about to make a desperate move. He forced all the remaining emerald pieces together into a spiky shield before him. Knuckles punched into it and cut his fists. He winced as Trevor leaped away from him.

He reformed the shield into a ball of green light. He slowly lifted it and lowered it down his throat! Within his stomach, Trevor smiled menacingly as his sternum held a solid spear of green light.

He leaned forward and growled as he hurled a beam of green and black from within his gullet. Knuckles was unprepared for the attack and could only cross his arms to block the wave. He took the shot directly and was hurled across the ground as the area was wiped away with green and black lights. When the beam's effects disappeared, Knuckles lay upon the ground several feet from the Leader.

Trevor was on his knees, stooped over. His mouth was gushing blood from down his throat. The attack had torn all the muscles and tissues within his esophagus. He was riddled with pain, but he had caused great devastation on the other end. Knuckles lifted himself onto all fours, his body weak. His arms smoked and sizzled, they were charred black. His chest was a deeper black, but the aura had caught most of the blast for it was now very dim.

"I've got one attack left in me" thought Knuckles "Now's my chance!"

He leapt into the air, blocking the sun above the Leader. Trevor looked up at him weakly, like he was about to face a god. Knuckles pointed himself downward and closed his eyes. He thought of the colors of his aura. He let the energy rush through his face with the wind. He nosedived straight down into Trevor in an array of red and black that threatened to rip right through him. With a thunderous boom, the stone floor shifted from one solid piece into many as the two echidnas fell downwards and landed upon a yellow surface. The rocks careened around them, falling farther down and bursting into smaller chunks. Knuckles landed near the Leader and stood up after the impact.

Tired, he knew this was resolved. Trevor stirred from his fading consciousness and looked up at Knuckles.

"No one…should ever feel my pain…and yet…I couldn't express it any other way…"

Knuckles looked at him with sympathy.

"Who's to say what someone will do when they suffer your kind of pain. While I believe you are wrong, I give you peace…brother…"

Trevor's eyes watered with tears long thought to be lost. Long had he endured the conflict between Haitis and Endos. He had to overcome the solitude of his pain and the raging fires of torment in his soul. He had risen above the ashes of death to see this moment. To one who knows only pain, only pain can free the one. Even on his deathbed, Trevor had never expected to be able to come to terms with the past.

"I…forgive you…Knuckles…"

Tilting his head to the side, Trevor drifted away. His hands shined a lime green before releasing the master emerald. Its usual glow was incredibly dim and the surface of the gem was very worn. Knuckles knelt down and absorbed it, then looked at his defeated opponent. So much had transpired between them in such a short time, and yet it must have been forever in Trevor's mind. Knuckles turned away as he realized they he was standing atop his birth tower yet again.

It was an echidna tradition to hold the funeral rights at the top of the tower when the echidna passed. He wiped a tear from his cheek and jumped off onto a nearby ledge. He glanced back for a moment, and then ran off into the corridor, his tears streaming into the wind.

The tower was exposed to the open side of the fortress. The base shook and the yellow pillar was separated from the fort. It slowly descended backwards into the air, drifting into the wind. As it fell, the Leader was left to drift with it. His cloak floated down from the higher story and landed across his face. It covered the half of his face with the bionic eye. What Knuckles saw was unshielded by the cloak, another echidna just like him. The tower fell towards the Earth, carried by the wind that once supported it.

Knuckles sprinted down corridor after corridor. He was desperately trying to find a way out. The fortress was falling through the clouds like a stone sinking in water. He took the nearest passageways, climbed many ladders, and busted out doors.

"If I can get to the roof, I'll have a better chance of just jumping down from here. This thing is falling way too fast to look for any equipment, let alone pilot it."

Fortune smiled on Knuckles as he came across a door that red 'Fire Door' above it. He charged through it and hurried up several spiraling stairs. He pushed open a hatch above his head and the force of the wind slammed it back down onto his face. He scoffed and tried again with more force. He pulled himself out onto the surface. The roof of the fortress was covered with a garden. Grass and even a few trees could be seen fighting the rippling wind that pushing against them.

The base was already pivoted at an angle, rushing towards the ground with deadly force. The far end of the roof was orange and covered in a wave of energy. The atmosphere was burning up the base from the end that would soon collide into Earth.

Frantically, Knuckles looked around for anything. A cliff he could jump to, a rock he could try to use like some sort of surfboard, a cloth he could use for a parachute, anything! He then heard a strange yell coming from the distance. He looked over to see a certain purple weasel clinging to the seat of his air bike.

"Wahhhh!! I'm gonna die!! I never should've come looking for that stupid emerald!"

"Nack!!"

The wind was incredibly fierce. Knuckles had to cling to the grass beneath him and crawl over to Nack. He pulled himself into the cockpit of the air bike and grabbed Nack by the wrist. Nack was surprised and confused, but would never admit he was glad to see Knuckles. Knuckles helped him climb into the cockpit. Nack sat behind the wheel and started the motor.

"Drive!!" shouted Knuckles.

The motor sputtered and whined. It chugged until it finally flooded.

"It's not good!" cried Nack "The engine is shot!"

"This is just great! It always has to be the hard way!"

Knuckles leaped out and maneuvered behind the air bike. He started pushing it towards the nearest edge of the roof.

"What are you doing?!" cried Nack "You're gonna kill us both!"

"Let me tell ya Nack, after today, this is nothing!!"

Knuckles jumped into the cockpit at the last available moment. He and Nack yelled into the air as they fell even faster out of the sky. Nack struggled with the key several more times until it began to sputter. The exhaust pipe blew several puffs of grey smoke as the machine came back to life. They shot back up through the air as if they were on a theme park ride, the two of them cheering and whooping as they were literally, shooting the breeze.

The two of them looked back at the fort as it reached terminal velocity and devastated the planet's surface. A huge cloud of debris and rock flew from the ground as they coasted away to a safe distance. The dust swallowed all of the shine of its metallic surface, turning its dark corridors into nothing more than the ruins of a memory. The two of them drove slowly through the sky, as they returned to Angel Island.

They landed gracefully with one last spurt from the exhaust. Knuckles walked up to the shrine and returned the master emerald to its pedestal. It was broken and worn; the color had lost most of its luster. The seven chaos emerald began to glow and hover around the master emerald. They released a bright light that illuminated the master emerald from within. As the light dimmed, the master emerald outshone the smaller stones with its usual green radiance.

"The balance has been restored."

Knuckles knelt and said a short prayer before returning to face Nack.

"That was quite a ride. As much as I don't want to say it Nack, I owe you my thanks and…my life."

Knuckles closed his eyes and snickered at the irony of it all. This day had proved to be indeed a challenging one. He gained the trust of a friend in a time of need and lost him within hours. Never before had he been tested so harshly, his mental mettle was worn to almost nothing and yet he was able to become stronger than ever before in his life. His belief in his own power and the brother like bond he had in Buckles would forever keep him tough as a guardian. He felt a warm resonance in his heart as he thought of this. Buckles, was living on in him.

Even more astounding was how one of his longest rivalries proved to save him in the very end. He snickered again.

"Nack…thanks a lot…"

He opened his eyes to see Nack was missing.

"Huh? Nack?"

He looked over at the shrine to see Nack flying away on his air bike. He had the master emerald secured in the back seat.

"Consider the debt paid knucklehead."

"I said I owe you my life not my emerald you dirty little rat!"

"I'm a weasel spiky head, weasel!"

Knuckles stomped in place as Nack drove off with the master emerald.

THE END


	17. The Making of The Knuckles Robo Army

Welcome. This is an additional chapter I decided to add since there was so much I wanted to say about this story. Consider it like a sort of commentary. There are a lot of things from edited material to the inspiration for the story. This is a gift to all of my fans who stuck by me and this story throughout the years. Now, without further a due, here is the bonus material.

**The Making of ****The Knuckles Robo Army**

**Inspiration**

You may have noticed that this story was originally published back in 2005. That's right. This story is many years in the making. My work has suffered greatly from procrastination and this is a perfect example of that. Back in 2005, I was much younger and I had just finished an even older fanfic. I was looking for my next great idea when I happened to end up watching an episode of Teen Titans. I don't recall the episode specifically, but the Titans were battling Cinderblock in some sort of underground mine, or maybe it was a coliseum, I'm not sure.

Any who, the scenery was what stirred my idea. I imagined Knuckles running through a sort of mine shaft similar to what I saw. He was running from evil echidnas and was cornered. Knuckles then discovers a pair of digging claws, similar to the ones from the Sonic Adventure titles. I originally wanted to elaborate from this and make the story like a video game. Knuckles had to escape from this mine and would collect power ups along the way. I eventually scrapped the power up idea, but changed the idea of the mine to a metallic island that would resemble Knuckles' own Angel Island.

I decided there would an entire crew of these evil echidnas, an army if you will. Of course the army would need an authority figure and that's when I decided on the Leader. As stated above, I had just recently finished an older fan fiction story. In that story, Knuckles faced off against a robotic version of himself in order to recollect one of the super emeralds. (My interest is that in-depth when it comes to the Sonic series.) The robot fell into the lava and melted away, but I imagined him returning, his body horrendously disfigured. The amount of pain he experienced would cause him to develop a sense of hatred and thus would cause him to be driven to such extremes as mentioned in this story.

**Production**

I began writing the story by hand, yes that's right. Good old fashioned story writing. I had many drafts that I lost over time but most of the ideas I can still recall. Let me tell you, using a computer for writing is a lot easier on the hands. Any who, as I mentioned earlier, the story was delayed many times because of my procrastination. I would write here and there but never sit down and discipline myself into writing. I was a lot younger though, it's understandable. Another problem was my big imagination. I wanted to make this story the best that it can be.

I've never been an organized writer so I never created an outline. I've always kept mental notes of the big events that I wanted in the final draft no matter what. So as I was writing the smaller chapters in between my big ideas, I would often have another idea and then deliberate whether I should change the entire future of the story.

The draft I am publishing here contains most of my major points, but I began writing as a freelancer when I was ready to pick it up again. A lot of the emotional moments in the final chapters were added on a whim, I created the majority of the story as it came to me. The first half of the story (roughly chapters one through nine) were all maintained according to my ancient drafts. The battles were fine tuned and updated to make the scenes more exciting. The rest of the chapters were all created after I revamped the story.

**Revamping the Story**

I suffered writer's block after chapter nine. The idea for the secret weapon really stunted me and I was debating removing the Omni-Cron entirely. As a young writer I had trouble determining what to do with the series and left it for dead. At some point I posted all I had accomplished on and somehow continued to save the Word documents. Upon revisiting it a few years later, I erased the story from fan fiction and then reposted it again. This time I scanned through all the chapters I had written and made important edits. I added better details and fixed many grammar errors. Microsoft Word sure does like to hassle you over how to describe Knuckles. For the last time, Knuckles was attacking, not _a_ Knuckle was attacking!

**Returning to Finish the Story**

I wrote most of the later chapters about a year ago but again; I let procrastination get the better of me. Just recently I was pondering on life, and the many things I wanted to do while I had the time. I remembered several stories I had started writing but never completed. This, being the earliest one, I decided should be the first. It is a great honor for me to be here now. I feel a lot of pride in finishing this story, despite the fact it took me years. If I can find the perseverance somehow, so can you. It just may take a long time lol.

**Removed Material / Early Draft Work**

I sifted through many different ideas. The bulk of the story was to be spent when Knuckles encountered the tower. I wanted to make it into a tier of opponents for him to face as he progressed upwards. I still had the individual characters like the ice echidnas, but they were just basic fights, hardly any meat to the subject. There were to be five floors, the first consisting of several robos by themselves. The second floor is the interesting part. I was to have five robos come together and do a ritual like dance. When they finished, their bodies would combine to become Buckles. Yeah, a weird idea I know. Buckles' attitude was also to be more of a punk rather than his mysterious undertone. Here's an example:

Punk – "Yo. I'm gonna beat you down bad Knuckles."

Mystery – "At last you've arrived. I've been anticipating our fight Knuckles."

You can see the difference. The fight with Trevor was to be different as well. For starters I didn't name him Trevor; that just came to me on a whim. They were to fight in the top room of the base and it was to be dark, with glowing knobs from machinery visible in the background. The Leader would never actually show his face or identity, just express his hate briefly to Knuckles and then fight dramatically. Aside from these few minor points, most of the story remains intact just as I had imagined it all those years ago.

**Closing**

I feel I owe this chapter to my fans. I've had many fans that will never see the ending to this story because they do not know it exists. My procrastination is to blame and for that I am sorry. Please refrain from leaving reviews on the content of this chapter, but if you wish to leave a review on the story as a whole then please do. I welcome all comments, positive and negative. I'd like to thank my friend Hannah for the motivation to get back to this story, fan fiction for hosting this story over all this time, and most of all, you the reader who give the story a meaning.

I hope you all enjoyed this story and maybe I'll be back someday with another story, who knows. Joe97, signing off.


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